Was joining the KHL a mistake?

BalticWarrior

Registered User
Apr 28, 2012
6,477
320
Riga
Lots of people on latvian sports sites are arguing that "Dinamo and KHL are ruining our hockey" and that we shouldn`t have a team in the KHL but rather a strong national championship, i wholeheartedly disagree with this opinion,but what do fellow latvians think of Dinamo and KHL and does it help our hockey or ruins it?
 

Justinov

Registered User
Apr 30, 2012
4,206
22
Copenhagen
Lots of people on latvian sports sites are arguing that "Dinamo and KHL are ruining our hockey" and that we shouldn`t have a team in the KHL but rather a strong national championship, i wholeheartedly disagree with this opinion,but what do fellow latvians think of Dinamo and KHL and does it help our hockey or ruins it?

Maybe the whole question is the word "strong". Having a strong latvian league would offcourse be preferable if it meant more possibility for more Latvian players/prospects to play against good competition, than Dinamo Riga can do alone in the KHL.

Still KHL and a good Dinamo Riga is still preferable to a weak Latvian league, since then the best Latvian players would go abroad anyway.

So is a strong latvian league even possible......are their finances and quality players enough to have several strong clubs?
 

SoundAndFury

Registered User
May 28, 2012
11,309
5,283
It's just plain stupid. Yeah, anyone would rather have a strong national championship but where's no way Latvia could pull it of.

Do they have any idea or some sort of the plan how it would be possible to create "a strong national championship" in Latvia which has, correct me if I'm wrong, 1 city with population over 100 k? Metalurgs is doing ok in Belorussian championship, what's their average attendance?

Riga is the only place in Latvia where competitive hockey team has a shot at survival.
 

BalticWarrior

Registered User
Apr 28, 2012
6,477
320
Riga
Maybe the whole question is the word "strong". Having a strong latvian league would offcourse be preferable if it meant more possibility for more Latvian players/prospects to play against good competition, than Dinamo Riga can do alone in the KHL.

Still KHL and a good Dinamo Riga is still preferable to a weak Latvian league, since then the best Latvian players would go abroad anyway.

So is a strong latvian league even possible......are their finances and quality players enough to have several strong clubs?

This is the same thing i argue these people,but they just have this mantra of- Dinamo Riga is bad,KHL ruins our players etc,etc.
 

latvianhockeyfan

Registered User
Jan 2, 2010
57
0
Lots of people on latvian sports sites are arguing that "Dinamo and KHL are ruining our hockey" and that we shouldn`t have a team in the KHL but rather a strong national championship, i wholeheartedly disagree with this opinion,but what do fellow latvians think of Dinamo and KHL and does it help our hockey or ruins it?


Strong championship or best players playing in one club is not a way for small country to develop their players.

Best way- best players playing abroad, best junior players playing abroad(already done), two MHL teams and a little bit better LC.

Look at results from 1997-2004(best players playing abroad) and look at U-20, U-18(top10 in world rankings)
 

BalticWarrior

Registered User
Apr 28, 2012
6,477
320
Riga
It's just plain stupid. Yeah, anyone would rather have a strong national championship but where's no way Latvia could pull it of.

Do they have any idea or some sort of the plan how it would be possible to create "a strong national championship" in Latvia which has, correct me if I'm wrong, 1 city with population over 100 k? Metalurgs is doing ok in Belorussian championship, what's their average attendance?

Riga is the only place in Latvia where competitive hockey team has a shot at survival.

Theres 2 cities with over 100k Riga and Daugavipils.
 

Justinov

Registered User
Apr 30, 2012
4,206
22
Copenhagen
This is the same thing i argue these people,but they just have this mantra of- Dinamo Riga is bad,KHL ruins our players etc,etc.

So for having a strong Latvian league which possible clubs could have finances to do so...how big a league is possible (number of teams).
Having more top teams in Riga than just Dinamo....is there an economic foundation for that??
 

BalticWarrior

Registered User
Apr 28, 2012
6,477
320
Riga
So for having a strong Latvian league which possible clubs could have finances to do so...how big a league is possible (number of teams).
Having more top teams in Riga than just Dinamo....is there an economic foundation for that??

Not really.
 

Justinov

Registered User
Apr 30, 2012
4,206
22
Copenhagen
It's just plain stupid. Yeah, anyone would rather have a strong national championship but where's no way Latvia could pull it of.

Do they have any idea or some sort of the plan how it would be possible to create "a strong national championship" in Latvia which has, correct me if I'm wrong, 1 city with population over 100 k? Metalurgs is doing ok in Belorussian championship, what's their average attendance?

Riga is the only place in Latvia where competitive hockey team has a shot at survival.

Actually it can be done with less. Örnsköldsvik with 29.000 people has MODO in the SEL and that has produced some good players :D (maybe the understatement of the day). But otherwise you are right - for having the attendance and finances you normally need a larger town/city.
One of the top team in Denmark SønderjyskE is from Vojens that also is a legendary Speedway town and it has 7.666 people (but then the Speedway history is more elite than the hockey).
The point is that if a smaller town has to make it...EVERYTHING in the town has to circle around their team. Local patriotism.
 

BalticWarrior

Registered User
Apr 28, 2012
6,477
320
Riga
Mostly people critisize dinamo riga and it`s players and that they are unmotivated and lazy and it`s somehow fault of the KHL
 

Justinov

Registered User
Apr 30, 2012
4,206
22
Copenhagen
Mostly people critisize dinamo riga and it`s players and that they are unmotivated and lazy and it`s somehow fault of the KHL

OR maybe they underperform because of fan negativity that makes the players afraid of losing? Victory breeds winners and losing starts making people think they are losers.
 

BalticWarrior

Registered User
Apr 28, 2012
6,477
320
Riga
OR maybe they underperform because of fan negativity that makes the players afraid of losing? Victory breeds winners and losing starts making people think they are losers.

A possibility,the fan preassure is always high in latvian hockey,it seems that our players do best when nobody excpects them to,like for example in 2009 when we beat Sweden,switzerland and got into 1/4 finals and before tournament everyone was saying we wont achieve anything and we will never win sweden or switzerland.
 

Justinov

Registered User
Apr 30, 2012
4,206
22
Copenhagen
A possibility,the fan preassure is always high in latvian hockey,it seems that our players do best when nobody excpects them to,like for example in 2009 when we beat Sweden,switzerland and got into 1/4 finals and before tournament everyone was saying we wont achieve anything and we will never win sweden or switzerland.

A good fan is behaving like a good marriege.....going through thick and thin. Being negative helps nobody on your team. So supporting them when things go wrong is very important.....maybe Dinamo Riga and Latvian have a certain number of fans that are less "good".
But that goes for any sport in any country.
It's when your team suck, weather sucks etc that you truly see who the good fans are.....
Example of a loyal fan is the the lone Italian football fan that defied the weather and showed up alone in Genoa to his great surprise for the away game against Sampdoria! (actually Udinese are doing quite well at the moment).
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-20700529
 

BalticWarrior

Registered User
Apr 28, 2012
6,477
320
Riga
A good fan is behaving like a good marriege.....going through thick and thin. Being negative helps nobody on your team. So supporting them when things go wrong is very important.....maybe Dinamo Riga and Latvian have a certain number of fans that are less "good".
But that goes for any sport in any country.
It's when your team suck, weather sucks etc that you truly see who the good fans are.....
Example of a loyal fan is the the lone Italian football fan that defied the weather and showed up alone in Genoa to his great surprise for the away game against Sampdoria! (actually Udinese are doing quite well at the moment).
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-20700529

Well the latvian "fans" i`m talking about arent really fans but more of bandwagoner types,they will cheer for our team only when it`s doing good,when its doing bad theyll just create more negativity and switch to other sports where they can be bandwagoners of success.
The real fans are the guys that are present at every WC games and root for our team wildy no matter what and these are the guys who got us the reputation of best fans in the world.
 

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